London Day One

London Day One

After a solid 12 hours of sleep to combat our jet lag we headed off to Oxford Street, the shopping hub of London. We had realised early on that Australia in the summer was not compatible with the kind of clothes you need for a London winter. Getting the ‘tube so far has been fairly simple and I hope it stays that way. Our first view on Oxford street was a five story H&M and a four story Top Shop. There was a lot to see. I spent 4o minutes just in the first Topshop, I realised then that just one store on Oxford street had more clothing choices than a whole shopping centre in Australia which will be a depressing reality once I get back. The interesting thing about stores here is that they tend to have at least one food shop inside; Cupcakes, Bubble tea, etc.

We walked along the street each alleyway providing us with another option for lunch. It was then we went past another H&M. On this street it wasn’t enough to just have one 4 story store, by the end of our trip we had gone past four Zara’s and three Topshop’s and H&M’s. I was surprised by the fact that prices were similar to their stores in Australia except obviously in pounds! So from now on I am going to appreciate how cheap H&M is over in Australia. At this stage we were getting a little hungry not having had much breakfast (we ate it so fast we forgot to take a picture).

We came upon a Marks and Spencer Food Hall, firstly you walk through the department store section then into a small grocery store. They have something similar to what we would call a Carvery in Australia, but much much better. For about six Pounds each we got a Roast roll/sandwich and the best sweet potato fries I have ever eaten. Once we had finished eating we had a browse through the grocery section which definitely had some interesting items including cheap wine in a sealed plastic wine-cup.

When we got back outside it was getting dark already even though it was only 2:30, we finished off our shopping then looked around for some cheap umbrellas knowing that we had been lucky so far to not experience the British rain. On the way we came by a three storey Lush store which was amazing! On the bottom floor they had a ‘perfume museum’ that a staff member took us through, it was meant to evoke different emotions which was fascinating. They also had their own Spa, the only Lush store in the world to have one. On the top floor was every bath bomb scent you could imagine.

Next door was a Disney store that had been taken over by Star Wars fever (aren’t we all?). We have been searching for a BB-8 plush, but the only toy we can find is a 125 Pound remote control BB-8 with all the bells and whistles. With the M&M store the day before, Disney today and Madame Tussaud’s tomorrow, we certainly have our Star Wars bases covered.

We went home tired and still jet lagged, but determined to go and try that interesting pub around the corner for dinner. We decided to have a 30 min nap and accidentally fell asleep for the entire night, missing dinner entirely!